Optical fibers and cables have become very common data carriers. One issue that can arise with optical fibers is their interconnection with other optical fibers. For example, many industrial, office and apartment buildings include data centers, where cables transmitting data from outside the building are ultimately interconnected with devices (phones, computers, and the like) inside the building. Commonly, incoming optical fibers pass to the data center in cable form, where they are spliced together with “pigtail” cables. The pigtail cables travel to a termination point, where they are interconnected with a termination device (for example, a termination cartridge or module) that, in turn, interconnects them with “jumper” fibers that exit to other parts of the building for use with various devices.
Splicing of optical fibers is often accomplished via one of three different splicing techniques: mechanical splicing; fusion splicing; or mass fusion splicing. These techniques are well known and need not be described in detail herein. Splices are often stored in splice trays, which are generally planar devices that include multiple splicing sites designed to organize interconnected fibers and splices. Splice trays can assist in keeping a number of spliced fibers in an organized arrangement (typically a tray will have a capacity of 6 to 24 splices). Splice trays are then stored inside shelves on an equipment rack within the data center. An exemplary splice tray is the 2524-MF FIBRLOK multi-fiber splice organizer tray, available from 3M, Minneapolis, Minn.
As data centers are required to handle increased amounts of data, they often accumulate vast numbers of cables, pigtail fibers and jumper fibers to be spliced and terminated. In an effort to include increasing numbers of splice trays on a single shelf, in some instances-splice trays have been stacked on top of one another to reduce the amount of space that they occupy; in certain of these instances, the splice trays have been adhered together with “double-stick” tape to attempt to maintain some degree of organization within an equipment rack shelf. Nevertheless, as the density of cables and fibers grows, it would be desirable to provide more splicing sites in a limited space, and to maintain and/or improve the level of organization that that splice trays can provide.